The power systems of many machines include a prime mover for providing power to perform various tasks with the machines. For example, many machines have an engine as a prime mover, the engine being drivingly connected to an electric motor/generator to generate electricity useable to perform one or more tasks with the machine. The prime mover of a machine is typically shut down when the machine is not in use. When it becomes desired to operate the machine to perform one or more tasks, it may be necessary to start the prime mover. In many cases, starting a prime mover requires driving the prime mover with an external power source until the prime mover can begin operating under its own power.
Many known approaches for starting a prime mover involve using an electric motor to drive the prime mover until it begins operating under its own power. For example, many known systems use an electrical energy storage device, such as a battery, to drive an electric motor to start a prime mover. Unfortunately, if the charge level of the electrical energy storage device is too low, it may not be possible to start the prime mover.
Published U.S. Patent Application No. 2010/0076636 A1 to Ichikawa (“the '636 application”) discloses provisions for charging a battery of a machine's power system. The '636 application discloses a power system with an engine drivingly connected to an electric motor/generator. The '636 patent discloses operating the electric motor/generator to start the engine with electricity from an inverter connected to a battery. The system of the '636 application includes a charger that can be connected to a supply of power off-board the machine, such as a commercial supply of 100v or 200v AC power, to charge the battery.
Although the '636 patent discloses a system with a charger that can connect to commercial power off-board the machine to charge a battery, certain disadvantages may persist. For example, in many circumstances, there may not be a readily available source of off-board commercial power to connect to the charger and charge the battery.
The system and methods of the present disclosure solve one or more of the problems set forth above.